China detains 52 people in crackdown on fake drugs, including Viagra

BEIJING - POLICE in China have detained 52 people in a crackdown on fake drugs, including the anti-impotence pill Viagra, seizing pills for other illicit aphrodisiacs and pornographic pictures in the process, state media said on Tuesday. The police operation centred on the teeming southern metropolis of Guangzhou also netted thousands of fake pills and packaging, busting a ring that sold to both the domestic and overseas market, the official Xinhua news agency said. It named another fake drug seized as 'man coffee', without giving details. Police also confiscated almost one million pornographic pictures used for packaging and shut down the printing press, Xinhua added. China's food and drug sector has been beset by a series of poisonings and toxin scandals that have shaken consumer confidence. Numerous government crackdowns have apparently had little effect. -- REUTERS